Mckee's New Job Isn't A Surprise

ON THE LAKE FRONT

Bob McKee, Lake's former chief deputy clerk of courts, is the county's new purchasing director.

As TV's Gomer Pyle would say: ''Surprise, surprise, surprise.''

McKee is expected to report for work Monday, according to County Manager Pete Wahl.

McKee's hiring had been rumored in whispers around the courthouse water cooler ever since he got the ax by Clerk of Courts Jim Watkins last month.

There was even some talk - again in whispers - that Wahl was toying with the idea of creating an assistant county manager's slot for McKee.

My guess is county commissioners would balk at such a recommendation. If not, they should.

Meanwhile, McKee's starting pay is ''$52,000 and some change,'' according to Wahl.

McKee was the only person to apply for the purchasing director position during a three-day posting period last week. It has been apparent McKee was Wahl's pick from the get-go.

Watkins abruptly fired McKee and Finance Director Jim Schuster early in August without giving either worker the professional courtesy of notifying him in advance.

Watkins has said he eliminated the two top-level management positions to save taxpayers money.

The firing raised the hackles of most professionals in the government community. Many courthouse insiders say the firings smacked of politics, a charge Watkins denies.

Even so, Watkins' handling of the dismissal caused the law firm representing his office to resign because of attorney Bob Williams' personal friendship with McKee.

Few people will quibble with Wahl's pick, considering McKee's experience, education credentials and a 17-year tenure of squeaky-clean government service.

But what isn't going down well in some quarters this morning is the way the county manager arbitrarily filled the job.

After all, Wahl knew right off the bat whom he wanted for the job, especially after McKee suddenly became available.

David Conway, who has been filling in as interim director of purchasing, was among numerous applicants passed over for the job when it originally was posted last April.

Apparently when word percolated down through the ranks that the county manager already had his mind made up, Conway didn't bother to apply this time around.

Last week, the job opening notice was posted in-house, which means folks not employed by the county need not apply.

One has to wonder why the county manager even bothered to advertise the opening one more time. And why advertise only internally, when practically everybody in the ranks knew who had a lock on the job?

''I knew Bob was looking for work,'' Wahl said. ''He's got strong administrative skills, an outstanding job experience record and education credentials. I knew he was the person for the job. Why go through the charade of advertising worldwide when I know who I want for the job?''

Talk about charades. It looks to me like like this latest internal posting of the job is a prime example of one.